Chicago Sucks! - Not the Crit or the city -I mean the band.

Chicago Criterium - Although I wish I did better - I had a blast!

Judy and I left Friday around seven and we stayed on the outskirts of the city in a cheap hotel. the drive down was the worst - we got caught in a blinding thunderstorm and had to pull off the highway for an hour - truly the worst storm I had been in.

As far as the race goes - my efforts were divided 10% on racing and 90% on a nice get-a-way with Judy. She even took her bike, which was awesome. We finally arrived in the city around 2:00 the next day and had a great time in the city. A perfect example of disproportional efforts was the night be fore the 8:50 race, Judy and I stayed out until 1:00 a.m. eating fondue and drinking! I literally left the port-a-potty 3 min. before start - although I felt a lot lighter!

The race: The venue was amazing - right down Michigan Avenue and back down Columbus - the course had two very sketchy corners and a 100 meter incline that did damage every lap. The field was filled on the starting line - 125 riders. This is no joke - our field was filled with pre-reg and had a waiting list. Next to the pros (200), our field was the largest. I had never raced with so many racers. The start was huge. This was one of the fastest races I had been in. Bill and I showed up ready to race. Before I left, Henie and Ron told me this would be a 35 min. plus 2 sprint and they were not joking. From the gun, it was balls out. Every time I hit that little hill, it was out of saddle, full sprint. The straight away was directly into the wind and every time we came through the line, I looked down and my speed was 30 mph.
On the back side, around the half circle was balls out. Before the race, Bill and I said it would be cool to take a flyer at the 10 min lull. I said, there might not be a 10 min. lull and man, was I right. For most of the race I sat in there fine. Up near the front for a while, dropped back, moved up, grouped up with Bill and a rider from Big Shark who does our Wed. night rides (name skips me). with one lap to go in time, before the final 2, they put a $100 prime on the line. Triple XXX got up front and must have done some killer blocking. Coming into the turn before the hill the pack came to almost a standstill - I mean truly almost a complete stop - and then - Bam up the hill into the two left. This is were a fucked up. I was near the back and the sprint up the hill was equal to an effort at the end of the race - I could not accelerate (FONDUE - MELTED CHEESE!) and found myself gapping into the straight away. Once again, I could not pull 30 mph and the gap widened quickly. If I was up more - no shit - I would have been fine. The entire race was at my max, but I was always in it, until this point. I finished the race at 78 out of 125. I sucked falling off so close to the end. Bill did a lot better, staying with the pack and finishing. The entire race was very sketchy - I guess because it was a constant sprint, I was never able to find a groove and get comfortable. Bill had a little accident and this other dude went beserk on him for bumping into another dude and taking him down. He was yelling, "It's on you Hub, It's on you!" Bill - shake it off - it's crit racing - and thank you. If it wasn't for you, I would have finished 79!

This was one of the best run races I had been a part of. The course marshalls were awesome. Because of blind corners and sweeping circles, each had a whistle and would blow it when riders came by, altering the people up ahead. How they closed these major streets was amazing, and people seemed really cool with it. The 3's race was also fast, but I do not think it was a jerky out of the corners, which was what killed me. Dave Smith and Alex German represented The Hub.

After the race, Judy and I switched hotels and went on a bike ride down the bike path along Michigan Avenue. This was a nice slow ride, with tons of people all along the path. It was really fun to ride next to the beach and check out the scenery - (The beach and lake)! We made it back to watch the pro-race - big names like Chris Horner in his Astana kit was really cool. Brad Huff won the race.

That night myself, Bill and Dave with our families, met up for some good Mexican food, ice-cream and the ESPN zone. A really fun evening - especially for this dude!

Came home today exhausted. I totally plan on doing this event next year, hopefully doing a little better.